A World of Shattered Memories- Shiko
by redpetal888
Summary: (Rewrite of The Other Mask) It's been years since she's seen the light of day, her soul sealed for more than a century... And now... she's being brought into the world of the living once more. But what will happen? Only time will tell. (MadaraxOC, HashiramaxOC, triangle. Lots of flashbacks and other OCs...) Part of a trilogy. Other parts may be coming soon.. Rating may change
1. Plans

_And all she ever wanted was to live in peace... poor girl, she never had the chance..."_

_"You knew her?"_

_"Of course I did. I'm Madara's br-...yes, I knew her."_

_"You sound as if there's something wrong."_

_"...Yes, I suppose there is something wrong..."_

_Black eyes met blue, untold emotions being exchanged between the duo as they glanced at eachother. There was a tension in the air, something that had nothing to do with the misty fog or the seemingly unpleasent weather. It was all about emotions...recent events that had caused a definite change in their lives._

_"I can't believe she did it. Sacrificing everything she had, and for what? Madara still died. Her honor is gone. And Hashirama is interregating Sheena, who might be thrown out of the village! And she didn't have anything to do with it!"_

_The blue eyes, belonging to a brunette kunoichi, were lit with sadness as they gazed at the newly-erected stone marker, the form of memorial Konoha had chosen for Uchiha Shiko._

_"It is wrong, I know... but... she didn't choose Konoha. She chose Madara- he wants to plunge us back into war, and apparently she went along with it. It pains me to say this, Kenna-chan... but... perhaps your brother made the right decision."_

_The kunoichi looked up at the dark-haired Uchiha in disbelief._

_"You..you go along with this too?!" it was easy to see she was angry._

_Senta shook his head. "I disagree with this as much as you! I'm just saying..." he lowered his voice, gently caressing Kenna's cheek in his pale hand. "We need peace. These people, the clans, the very air... we have been saturated with blood. It's time to create a new place, free of war and all of this bloodshed. That's what Konoha is...and..." he glanced downwards, placing his other hand on Kenna's stomach._

_For anyone observing, it would be hard to notice the slight swelling thats signified the presence of life within her. But they were linked- they had noticed the changes, day by day, the faint chakra presence that began to emanate from her womb..._

_"Our child shouldn't have to experience the horrors that we have," he finished softly, his eyes glistening. Senta placed a kiss on her forehead, before standing up straight and drawing her into his arms._

_Kenna seemed to find solace in this, as she calmed down and breathed deeply, burying her head in his neck. His shirt began to grow wet with her tears, as she silently sobbed._

_No one but Senta would see her cry._

_Even the pair of red eyes, who had long been spying on them from afar, did not notice the Kunoichi's tears. He was... thinking, ever since he had picked up a third chakra. Faint as it was, it was still detectable to shinobi of his power._

_An Uchiha-Senju baby..._

_An abomination._

_A filthy, disgusting, abomination._

_He had been right in disowning Senta as his brother..._

_Madara's eyes narrowed, focused on the duo before him. The baby wasn't the only thing bothering him._

_Apparently, he had just learned, Hashirama came up with a cover story to say that Shiko was dead. That was... unacceptable. Untrue, and infuriating._

_But the worst part was that there was nothing he could do. As much as he hated it... Hashirama's story provided him with time to act out on his own plan. He'd need much time to complete it, and if he had shinobi on his tail it would take even longer._

_So being dead in the eyes of the public would actually be beneficial, in the long run. And...possibly, it would benefit Shiko. Perhaps, in time, he could free her._

_Yes... his plans would work out._

_He just needed time._

Madara opened his eyes, smiling grimly from behind his orange mask. Just as he'd predicted, he had found a way to free his... friend. Though it hadn't been what he expected...there was a man he needed to find, one with Hashirama's DNA. It was taking longer than he wanted... But that didn't matter. Soon, Shiko would be free once more. Everything was falling into place.

There was, however, another that had yet to be taken care of.

The Uchiha-Senju child, which he had at many-a-point regarded with disgust, had a rather crucial role in this. He didn't like to admit it, but the abomination from so long ago was crucial to his current success.

So the tainting of the Uchiha bloodline, it seemed, came with a silver lining.

It still needed to be taken care of.

Madara had tracked the descendants of Uchiha Senta and Senju Kenna (who later became Uchiha Kenna, after marriage), and he knew who he needed to find.

Currently, there were only four- and the Uchiha blood, sadly, had faded to the point where only one of them had awakened the Sharingan. The others, it seemed, didn't show any promise at all. But Sharingan was not what he needed from them. The children, as it so happened, were all... jinchuuriki. Special ones.

Madara already had one of them- working for him, in fact, as a member of the Akatsuki. The other three were in Konoha. Ninja.

"Madara?"

The masked man turned to face his underling, lips curled in a concealed grimace. He didn't enjoy having his thoughts interrupted...this had to be important. No one in the right mind would willingly irritate him unless they had a really good reason to, for they knew the consequences could be great.

"We've found him. The man with Hashirama's DNA."

The words of the red-head instantly caught Madara's attention.

"I'm listening, Pein..." Madara's tone was low, masking his excitement. If it could be called that. In his own mind, it was simply...anticipation. It would not do well for others to see Uchiha Madara's 'excitement'. He needed to keep up his image.

"He's in Konoha. Captain Yamato, former Anbu member and fill-in for Hatake Kakashi as head of squad seven...one of the kyuubi's squads."

A grim smiled formed on the masked man's face as he heard. It was good news- two of the more important pieces in his plan were in the same place, making them easier to obtain.

"Which vessel for the kyuubi has a connection to Yamato through this squad?"

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Madara took in the information, already beginning to feel a sense of victory.

"And what of the other jinchuuriki? Not just the kyuubi's vessels."

Pein almost seemed to hesitate, as if he was having a hard time remembering. This didn't bode well for him- Madara didn't take it kindly when his underlings failed to collect information.

"...The others are both female...Uzumaki Kazumi and Uzumaki Emiko..." there was a slight hint of fear in his voice, becoming more and more evident as it became clear he did not posess enough intel to satisfy Madara.

Madara wasn't in a mood to terrorize his poor underling- he was in a rather...playful mood, if that could be said. Which simply meant Pein wouldn't receive as harsh a punishment as he would have if the masked man had been in a bad mood.

"...Anything else to add?" his voice was low, sounding almost predatory. And it had the desired effect- Pein nearly seemed to cower, his fear now being the most evident of his features- which, considering his piercings and unusal hair color, really meant something.

"Come on now, anything?"

"Uzumaki Emiko...can be recognized for her bright red hair, which she received from her mother, Uzumaki Kushina. She is currently a genin..." Pein's voice slowly grew louder, until he was talking at a normal volume. If he presented what little information he had in the right way, it would seem like enough to deter Madara's wrath. Hopefully.

"And...Uzumaki Kazumi can be recognized for her blonde hair and lack of whisker tattoos...she is currently a chuunin, and may have had sexual relations with the current Kazekage, despite it being illegal for ninja of separate villages to do so."

Madara raised an eyebrow, feeling almost amused. Pitiful...

"I suggest that you leave my presence. You've made it painfully obvious that you have no information of real use, and my generosity of letting you live this long might just dry up if you continue to waste my time." His words were harsh, yes, but that could only be expected of one such as Uchiha Madara. His playful mood had deteriorated rather quickly. Although, having a bit of dirt on Kazumi might give him a little bit of leverage...but he couldn't let Pein know that.

The man in question wasted no time in getting himself out of the room and out of his sight.

"Just like a good underling should," Madara commented under his breath. Finally... he could think, again.

Although it had occured to him on more than one occasion that such cruel treatment of his servants might cause disobedience in the future, he had little to no care for it. They knew not to disobey...for if they did, there were more than enough options for punishments. Painful punishments. Very painful punishments.

Though... they didn't know how severe Madara could be. Years and Years ago, when he had still been respected within his clan, he had been put in charge of interragation and torture for a reason.

The things he had (and still could, but wouldn't) do were beyond the comphrehension of anyone still alive.

That, as macabre as it was, he was proud of. In a twisted way, yes, but that didn't matter. All that did were the possibilities...always the possibilities...

The sounds of yelling and explosions rang through the air, as Tobi was on yet another mission to make a certain Iwagakure terrorist as miserable as possible.

"Get your ass back here!"

Tobi didn't looked behind him as he ran, flailing his arms around and yelling wildly in a nearly impossibly high-pitched voice.

The terrorist, more commonly known as Deidara (though also known commonly as terrorist to the hidden villages) ran after him at a fast pace. Or...rather...it was fast for Deidara, but the man behind Tobi's mask could have easily outrun him.

In fact...it was almost irritating that he had to slow down for Deidara, giving him the impression of being faster. His persona, Tobi, was running as fast as he could... which, in fact, was irritatingly slow, as was said before.

Tobi had to jump slightly to the left as a piece of clay detonated, sending pieces of debris flying all over the hallway. It was now that he looked back briefly, seeing a huge hole in the wall that exposed one of the member's rooms.

That wouldn't make Kakuzu happy. He'd be pissed, as usual when it came to matters of destruction and reconstruction (which usually required money). But, then again...when was Kakuzu ever happy?

The obvious answer was no.

No one, as far as they knew, could remember a day in which something had not been destroyed, and then required money to fix.

But it wasn't that simple.

Kakuzu, after months of fixing everything with the Akatsuki's funds (and nearly going bankrupt, to his horror) had set some new... rules.

Nothing would be fixed that required money, unless it was of the utmost necessity.

Surprisingly, it had saved them an enormous amount.

However...they did still spend a lot on fixing things. Just...a lot less than before.

Tobi was getting tired of this game. Deidara, it seemed, would never give up on trying to murder him, so Tobi simply rounded a corner ahead of the bomber and used his teleportation jutsu.

Appearing in his room, he sighed, removing his mask. Irritating people wasn't fun any more, it seemed. He was growing bored with it.

Though, he had a good reason.

It had been five days since Pein relayed the info about Captain Yamato, and Madara was growing restless. According to one of their moles in the hokage's offices, Captain Yamato and his team of Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and some other person that wasn't important enough to remember, would be attempting to capture the three-tails, at it's lake abode near Kiriagakure.

This was when he was planning to snatch Yamato and bring him to the Akatsuki.

Once Yamato was there, Madara would be able to use the sealing statue to extract the spirit of his old...friend. Someone who could help them greatly, and who, until then, would be unknown to even the container of the spirit.

It would cause quite a stir.. Madara was sure of it.

The problem with this (and why he was bored), was that the Konoha ninja wouldn't be there for at least a week.

He didn't want to wait.

Passing the time had become a difficult thing to do. With his anticipation growing more and more each day, the activities that he normally enjoyed seemed dull and didn't hold the regular amusment for him. It was...irritating.

And Uchiha Madara had never been a patient person.

But, within a week, his plans would be nearly complete.

For now, all he needed was to wait. He could do that.

End of chapter 1

(Author's Note: Hello everyone! In case you didn't hear, this is a rewrite of The Other Mask. It doesn't matter if you didn't read the other mask, but if you were curious to know where this comes from...uh...that's what this comes from. So...to readers of The Other Mask...This story, as you might be able to tell, starts off earlier than The Other Mask. But...you-know-who will be there soon! So...um...I hope this story will be better than the original, as that is what I am rewriting it for! Hugs to all that read this because of the other mask. You're awesome. And..uh...thanks everyone!

... Please review. Consructive critism is appreciated, but Flames are not. Flames will be... flamed upon.)


	2. Hide N Seek

**Chapter 2**

_"Fifty-eight...Fifty-nine...Sixty! Ready or not, here I come!"_

_A younger Madara concealed himself from the seeker, against a tree branch that was so far up in the air, most would not even consider the idea of someone -especially a child- being there._

_The rough bark of the tree poked against his back, making small tears that his mother wouldn't be happy about. The thought made him smirk lightly, before returning to his blank face that he had been taught to wear from a young age. Expectations, even when in play, were someone to be upheld in the Uchiha clan._

_His raven hair had already grown past his chin, spiked and unruly, even at the young age of four. In this game of hide-and-seek he and his friends were playing, it was starting to become a bit of a nuisance, getting caught on bark and such._

_He could hear the movement of his peers far below him, searching and finding nearly everyone. The short time it took, he supposed, was something the seeker would gloat about for a long time._

_Not even five minutes into the game, there were only three people left- himself, his younger brother Izuna, and someone whom he didn't quite know._

_A small girl, around his age, with snowy white hair. She was quite strange- her hair color, for one, but there was something else._

_Her eyes were concealed by a white linen bandage, which was a slightly darker shade than the hair on her head._

_From the looks of it, she appeared blind- which was why, at first, the boys had refused to let her play._

_But she had been rather…persuasive._

_A few twisted arms and frightened brats later, they had let her join._

_There was no sign of her- even Madara, the clan's growing prodigy, had no idea where she was. He made a mental note to not tell his father._

_He wouldn't approve of this failure. And he would make it known quite verbally- and, if he was in a bad mood, physically._

_But, if that happened, his nii-san would protect him. He was sure of it._

_Though Senta and Madara shared extremely different views of life (even at Madara's young age) he was very protective of his younger siblings._

_If his father were to get violent, it wouldn't be the first time Senta had intervened._

_But, for now, there was no way he was going to find out._

_Hopefully, the girl would get caught, and this whole issue in his head would dissipate. She was just a little girl, after all, and an apparently blind one at that._

_And yet… she had managed to beat two older boys (Izuna had been spared from her wrath) to a near pulp. She hadn't seemed to break a sweat while doing this, either…_

_But that didn't matter. As long as Madara stayed hidden…_

"_I found you."_

_The boy nearly jumped out of his skin, his head whirling around to find the source of the voice- the same girl he had been wasting his time worrying about._

_Damn._

_Before he could say anything in reply, she held up a finger to shush him. She motioned with her hand to a branch below them- one of the seekers, climbing up the tree, and doing rather well at it, was a mere five feet away._

_Luckily, the boy hadn't heard her speak, or he would have already caught them._

_Madara went still, silently observing the spider-like movements of the boy below them. It seemed that he was almost ready to give up- he kept looking around, and eventually began heading back down towards the ground, sighing heavily._

_Madara turned his head to face the girl, but was met with nothing. She had apparently disappeared, leaving him alone in the leafy treetops._

_Huh._

_This had been a strange encounter. He vaguely wondered if she would pop out from behind him, or turn up somewhere he didn't expect._

_But none of this happened._

_He was, in fact, truly alone, his thoughts and curiosity rising about this strange girl. _

Madara awoke from his short-lived dream, groaning softly and rolling over. He remembered that experience very well- his first time meeting Shiko.

He hadn't known then, but that had been the last time he would see her for many years. And, the next time he would see her, the circumstances would be very different.

Madara smirked, remembering all of the things that had happened between then and now. It was… nearly funny, seeing the differences between their childhood encounter and what they experienced in their later years of life.

He turned, his mind slowly transferring from his memories to the present. His senses returned to what was going on around him, and he sighed, possibly with irritation.

Long, dry gusts of wind blew at him, creating little noise but still managing to carry his clay mount above the ground, an imitation of a bird that seemed to hold preference to life.

It was interesting how Deidara, someone who did not seem to grasp the importance of life, preferring end it through his explosive 'art', could create something so… tranquil. And also effective- being able to soar through the sky greatly reduced travel time.

Although, Madara supposed, it wasn't necessary. After all, he _did _have his teleportation jutsu. Also, his own speed could easily match that of the clay bird.

But, as long as he had to keep up his façade as Tobi…this was as fast as they could go. It wasn't as irritating as pretending to be slower than Deidara when they were on foot.

As a bonus, it was rather…relaxing. Allowed him more time to think.

"Sempai!" Tobi yelled in his childish voice. He could tell they were getting near their destination- the lake where the three-tails was kept.

Finally, another part of his plan would come into place.

"Shut up, un," the blonde bomber growled in response. His sour mood was understandable- Tobi had been bugging him all week, which was sadly one of the masked man's ways of letting off some steam.

From 'accidentally'-detonated clay to stolen hair products, the last few days had been hell for him.

And, as usual, Kakuzu had blamed him for everything that had been destroyed. Which, given the circumstances and who he simply was, was also understandable, but…this tedious pattern was getting old.

"Sorry, Sempai!" Tobi chirped in childish voice once more. He was purposely pushing Deidara's buttons. Again.

"If you don't shut your mouth I'll-" Deidara started to threaten.

But he was cut off by the sound of an explosion. There was no time for puns- the bomber being cut off by something he'd have been proud of, they turned and saw the source.

They had arrived at their destination rather early…

For it was the three-tails, massive and furious in its…'glory'. The beast thrashed around in its lake, roaring and seemingly trying to destroy something that only it could see.

Madara had a hunch about what it was.

Far below them, a group of Konoha ninja (detectable only from his sharingan and acute chakra sensing skills) raced around, trying to secure the three-tails while trying not to be killed by it either. It wasn't an easy task, for they seemed to have other ninja pitted against them…who weren't so keen on the beast's sealing.

For once…Madara didn't know who they were. The ninja did not fall into place with his plans… they were interfering.

He didn't like that.

Sighing slightly, the masked man shook his head and prepared to enter the battlefield. It was time to secure captain Yamato. This, he could and needed to do.

Interference or not.

**End of chapter 2**

(Author's Note: Thank you for all the reviews!

I love you all! *hugs Dina Sana, moss opal, Yuti-chan, and Itachi-Uchiha-Lover*

I'm sorry Shiko wasn't in this chapter. I think she'll be in the next one….hopefully….:P

Also, on another note…I recently started working on A World of Shattered Memories- Kazumi. Hopefully, it will be up within the next week….though, I never know what'll happen.

Ciao for now~)


	3. Important message thing from the author

((NOT AN UPDATE, SORRY!))  
((Author's Note:  
Well, fuck my life.  
It appears that all of the documents on my computer have dissappeared, and with it, everything I ever had for stories.  
EVERY. DAMN. THING. IS. GONE. This is distressing news. I had a new chapter for this already nice and typed out, but apparently...not anymore.  
It's the same thing that happened when MyCandyLove333 and I first started working our SYOC (published on her account, not mine).

I have given up on Word (which was the program I had been using in the first place to write my chapters and everything, but I can't even open it now because of the stupid bug thing).  
(And now I am using notepad, which is not nearly as good)  
I will, probably, eventually continue this story and my others, but it is going to take a long time to redo everything I had worked out for the next chapter (As most of you know, I'm a pretty slow writer and don't really use my time as well as I should).

Well...this leads me to a choice I have for all of you.  
I will offer you all two choice, regarding this story-  
1. I can update more often, but the chapters will be shorter than the ones you saw in the first two.  
2. I can write longer chapters, but it will take a longer time for me to complete them.

I'm really sorry for all of this. If I can get Word to work again, then we can all forget this ever happened (I'll probably delete this chapter, bad memory.) and I'll get on with working on my stuff.

But, since I can't really see that happening (I am very doubtful of Word's cooperation) I'll try and work on notepad. For now.

I love you all.

Sincerely, redpetal888))  



	4. At Long Last

(A/N: Well...it looks like I finally can use a computer to write! Yay! Let's just forget the last author note thing ever happened, shall we? ^^;  
Alright, in this chapter, I'm going to be introducing some of the major changes in plot that were not going to be in The Other Mask, including a few tailed beasts...You get to find out more about that later ^^ I also just thought I should say...this story should be considered AU. I might keep some (or a lot, depending on how this develops) events of the Naruto plotline, but I think I'll be adding lots of my own, changing the order of events, etc. But that shouldn't matter to you readers, since it's a fanfiction. Alright?  
Also...if any of you have questions about the story/plot that you would like to know about (or I made some kind of mistake that I need to fix) then PLEASE feel free to PM me. I love to chat with people, and I don't bite! :) ))  
**Chapter 3**

It had been several days now since Yamato had been taken hostage. Chained, drained of energy, and unconcious, his physical body was not in a state of well-being.  
That was half due to the struggle he had put up during the attack (really something a ninja would be proud of) and half due to the simple impatience of the man waiting for the spirit extraction to finish.

They had been in the process of removing Shiko's spirit for almost a week (the entire time he had been in the Akatsuki base) and there was seemingly no progress. It was very different from a tailed beast's extraction, that was to say the least.  
Tailed beasts were easier.

Madara had spent day upon day trying to coax the frightened soul within the Anbu Captain to come out, so far to no avail. With a Jinchuuriki, this would not happen. Jinchuuriki were aggressive and didn't react to continued oppression in such a manner. Humans were another matter entirely.

The man under the orange mask swore, nearly half of his chakra drained in another attempt to draw Shiko from her spirit binds. Hashirama and Mito had been through with their seals... this was more complicated than the Kyuubi's. And, of course, harder to break. And the Kyuubi's had never been a walk in the park either, even with the limitless abilities of his sharingan at his disposal.

He sighed in irritation, reaching behind him to wipe the sweat from the back of his neck.  
Any moment now, and his pride would cave. He would admit he needed help...  
A growl escaped his lips, the low and slightly disturbing sound bouncing off the walls of the cave in a way that made it seem as if a monster, rather than a man, stood in its depths. And, at least mentally, it would be fitting.

A sudden voice broke through the frustration and near silence, shattering what little concenration Madara had left within him. Turning around sharply, his sharingan flared, glowing a bright red that struck fear into many hearts.

"A little frustrated, aren't you?" a nearly sarcastic drawl drew his eyes to his side, where the voice had come from. A tall young woman with a grin on her face stood, her arms crossed. Her eyes were a dark onyx, and her hair a stark white in contrast.

"Sheena, now is not the time to be disturbing me." A simple statement, yet enough to take the girl aback. She stepped backwards slightly, complying with the warning in Madara's tone. But the grin, though now missing from her mouth, stayed within her eyes, sparking only more irritation on Madara's part.

"I'm here to offer a suggestion for this... thing you're doing," Sheena said, eying Yamato with a mild interest. There was much more to this than met the eye...

"And what would that be, exactly?"  
The tension in the room rose, both of them stiffening and checking their guard. To an unobservant bystander, the difference in atmosphere would be undetectable. But to any seasoned and watchful ninja, it would be easy to tell that these two did not like eachother. An understatement.

"You should use Yuri. A fellow Akatsuki member, she should be willing enough-"  
"Do not ever think I would use someone such as a jinchuuriki to achieve this," Madara snarled, interrupting Sheena and bringing the entire room to a cold aura. "I won't take the help of THE FUCKING SENJU DEMON!" The girl winced, her ears stinging from the volume of Madara's shout.

She was, in a way, surprised at his reaction. Uzumaki Yuri, the container of Kyra, one of the most powerful of the tailed beasts, and a WILLING member of the Akatsuki, would more than likely be able to pull Shiko's spirit from Yamoto, with help of Madara. Whose pride, apparently, was still too high and mighty to even consider the option.

"Have you thought this through? Using Yuri might be the only way to-"  
A particularly fierce glare silenced her. Though Sheena had somewhat of an immunity to Madara's wrath, even she was not safe from his anger. She knew not to cross certain boundaries, or he would kill her. If if she was the sister of Shiko...

A moment of silence passed as the girl though of another approach. Sheena missed her sister, if not in the way Madara did. She wanted Shiko back too, and simply had less pride. She would use Yuri, if given the option. But the option, in this case, could only be given by Madara, who was far from willing.  
Sheena opened her mouth to say something else but was once again cut off, this time not by Madara. Instead, there was a bright flash of light, blinding, which illuminated the cave in such a way that nothing was visible.

She groaned, reaching up to shield her eyes. She couldn't tell what Madara was doing.  
"What the hell is this?"  
But she wasn't heard; for the illumination also came with sound. A bright, ringing noise, it somewhat hurt her ears, but it was bearable enough that she could stay within the cave.  
The source of it all was emanating from Captain Yamato's chest- right where the seal should have been.

Sheena had no doubt in her mind what it was- Shiko had somehow awoken. And decided to do something...

The light and noise lasted about thirty more seconds, before it finally faded and rushed together, shifting into a crumpled figure on the cave's wet floor.

Then it was gone completly, leaving only the person.

"A...mmm..." it moaned, and then went completely limp. The figure's features began to shift, becoming less sceptor-like and more like that of a human. Slowy but steadily, it changed into her sister.

Uchiha Shiko.  
She was concious for a split second, gazing up around at the two figures (it looked to have no memory) and then went limp once more, this time looking to be permanent.

In an instant, Sheena was by her side, cradling her sister.  
"Shiko..." Her voice was but a whisper, uttered in complete shock and a wave of sudden emotion. Emotion that had been locked away for over a century, and then come rushing out at this one point.  
It was almost like a trauma. But a positive trauma, if that could exist.

She didn't get much time before virtually being pushed aside, Shiko's body then being wrapped in the arms of the man with the orange mask. Madara.

Sheena snarled, about to yell (or possibly use a physical attack), something she knew wasn't in her best interest, given Madara's power and aggressive tendancies. But something stopped her. Something about the look of him, holding Shiko's body so tenderly, so gently...in care...

Something about that quieted her. Something so full of care...  
It was very unlike the Madara she visualized in her head; the one who slaughtered dozens of people and overtook fortresses and villages. It showed a different side of him, and...she liked it.

So Sheena stayed back, watching, though quite irritated at having been shoved.  
She could have time with her sister, later, when Madara wasn't smothering her to death.

Now, with her in the world of the living once more, they had time. Lots of time.

**End of Chapter 3**

(A/N: Well...I'm sorry it's so short :( I was really in the writing swing of things, and I wanted to get a chapter published for y'all since I haven't updated anything in a long time. And, I FINALLY am able to use a computer to write again! And, since it's summer break, I'll have a lot more freetime to write! So, I'll have more chapters of this published (hopefully) than normal.  
I also have a question for the reviewers (I've seen a lot of other authors do this, and I'd like to try it)  
What do YOU think Shiko is going to be like? Any guesses? I wanna hear your thoughts :)  
Oh, another thing...  
I will be explaining about the 'Kyra' demon in one of the next chapters. I'm trying to make it less mary-sueish...not sure if it's working though :P And, also...I know that these first few chapters aren't really good, writing-quality-wise. It's just...I'm finding it hard to introduce the characters, the way I have them set up, in a non-mary-sueish way. So please bear with me on this. After the next...2-3 chapters I should have it cleared up. :)  
**Reviews are love.)**

P.S...If you see grammamatical errors or seemingly non-sentence-fitting things, PLEASE tell me and I'll fix them. I don't have a beta (though I'd love to get one for this story but am too shy to ask anyone, but if you are open to beta-ing and messaged me I would respond with a yes) so constructive criticism is much appreciated! :)


	5. Awakening

**Chapter 4**

Dripping...echoing...voices..  
Dripping...echoing...voices..  
Dripping...echoing...voices..

These things were what invaded her mind. Over and over, repeatedly, happening again and again until it eventually seemed to drone away, undetectable, no different than the now-present silence.

It was maddening.

"Wh...what..." her voice was barely a whisper, not managing to break through the deafening silence. Her mind was everywhere and nowhere. Confusion, muddled shadows of thought, yes, but nothing...solid.

At least, that was the way it was until the woman managed to open her eyes. She saw...nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing but a dark blackness, the same as she had seen for so many years, and yet; different.. it wasn't condensed, it didn't remain in a cell-like chamber like that of her prison.  
No, it was more...open. If that were possible.

So yes, it was a similar darkness, but it was a good darkness. A free, breathable darkness. She was somewhere new. Not a containing, suffocating darkness, like that she had spent a century trapped in...

And that made the woman smile. An unseen, yet happy smile.

But then there was light...

Blinding, painful, stinging light, seeming to burn her eyes. The woman hissed, reflexifly pulling her arm up to shield her eyes.  
"Turn it off..." she hissed, not even sure why she bothered using a vocal command. She was trapped within someone's spirit, who was there to hear her?!

But unlike the usual nothingness, the lack of reply that had always received her...  
Someone...responded.

Not vocally, but almost as soon as the words had left her lips, the light dimmed until it was nearly bareable, and she was able to remove her arm from her eyes.

Hazy shapes, blurred movements. This was what she could manage to see, her eyes a bit 'rusty' due to the lack of recent use.  
Soon enough, the strange shapes seemed to clear up. What was that...

A humanoid figure?!  
But no...  
That was...  
That was impossible!

There was no other person in this void. She was alone...so alone...  
Her mind playing tricks on her, that was what it must be. The room...cluttered with different books and scrolls, the engraved lantern sitting in the corner, the bright lamp on the ceiling, the paintings on the walls...

All a figure of her imagination that her mind had eventually created in order to cope with being thrust into an empty void for so long.

But then... the figure...spoke?  
"Can you hear me?"

The voice hit her ears oddly. It had been so many years in silence, she had a hard time comprehending speech.  
"Y-yes..." her voice rasped in return.  
She might as well play along with this hallucination...

"That's good," the figure replied, stepping forward towards her. As she came closer, Shiko was able to determine each of the features on her individually- and quickly realized that this was quite and elaborate illusion.

This figure was a spot-on image re-creation of Sheena.

The Sheena-figure smiled.  
"It's been a long time, Shiko. I've missed you... and, of course, so has Madara."

The woman took a long time to think about this sentance. Her name...yes, her name...Shiko...  
And Madara, yes, she knew who he was...  
But what did this phantom mean by 'It's been a long time'?

"Who are you? What are you?"

The phantom raised an eyebrow. Her expression was a mixture of confusion and amusement. It was calculating, deciding on the next form of speech or the next thing to say... it obviously hadn't planned on this kind of reaction.

"I am your sister," it eventually replied. "Sheena. You know me."

Shiko tilted her head.  
"No," she said softly, her voice lowering along with her emotion. She felt a pang of sadness, a pang of feeling that she had not experienced for an eternity.

What a cruel joke for her mind to play upon her...

"You are not. There is no one else here, not in this void."

The figure laughed. Shiko narrowed her eyes, feeling her other emotions come into effect- this one, namely irritation. How dare it laugh at her ordeal!  
"So that's it then," The figure smoothly said. "You haven't realized... you're OUT, sister. We've extracted your spirit...you aren't alone. You aren't in the void any longer."

A strange sound echoed throughout the room; a muddled chuckle, sounding more like a cough than anything. Probably from the disuse.  
"That's not funny," Shiko murmured. She wasn't getting out of the void, not ever. She was forever alone...

"You're right, it's not," Sheena uttered a low growl. She would be damned if she would let her sister keep up this illusion.  
"Come here, now."  
And, without consent of any kind, Shiko found herself being scooped up (none too cerimoniously) and pulled out of the room, muttering curses under her breath as she went.

Her surroundings were a blur for the next few minutes (having her face pushed up against the phantom's soft bust certainly didn't help), which only increased the disoriented feelings swirling around in her mind.

She was aware of a door (quite large, stone or metal from the sound of it opening) and a sudden rush of warm air, enough to tell her:  
1. They were outdoors somewhere.  
2. The shelter they had been in was either a cave or some kind of cooled structure.  
3. It was spring or summer, judging by the temperature.  
4. She would soon be suffocated in her own mind, if the phantom didn't release her. The heat was making it even **worse**.

"Mmrph..." she tried to mumble something, but found all attempts a failure. The phantom seemed to not notice, for nor attempt or anything of the sort was made to let her breathe.

Suddenly, everything around her bounced, up and down, and up and down.  
Was Sheena- _'no, the phantom',_ she corrected herself in her mind- jumping? Perhaps she was being carried up a cliff...

A moment later, and Shiko quickly realized this was true. The feeling of being suffocated against imaginary breasts suddenly ceased as she was gently released, enough to see and stand partially on her own, but still enough within the phantom's arms so that it could catch her, should she fall.

Apparently her mind **cared** about her, somewhat at least.

The sudden rush of light blinded her, much like it had within the building, and she reached up her arm to shield her face. This only lasted for a few seconds, however, her extremely sensitive eyes adjusting quickly.

She was distracted by the scenery...

The pair was standing on a tall cliff of some kind, overlooking a seemingly endless forest. To her left, a gigantic waterfall sprawled, continuing from the same cliff down to a crystal clear pool of water at the bottom. To her right, the forest extended, gradually thinning out as it reached the base of a series of mountains.

"Take this in. All of this. Breathe in some fresh air! This is real. All of it. I swear it on my life...and you for one should know that I don't take that lightly," the phantom said.

Shiko turned to face her, her attention stolen from the scenery.

**Holy...**  
**Shit...**

The realization hit her like a sack of bricks.  
And she grinned. Smiled so widely...

And began to laugh. A giggle at first, reasonably held back. But then it grew, rising up until it became a hysterical laugh.  
_**Free**_! She was free!  
She engulfed her sister in a monstrous hug, tears beginning to spring from her eyes.

Neither of them said a word, the communication instead coming from their eyes. Glances.

It was then that another realization dawned on Shiko. Her eyes...everything seemed to look...weird, to put it in the least. There was a bit less colour, and less detail...and she couldn't see chakra like she remembered being able to.

And then, looking into Sheena's eyes, and seeing her own in their reflection, she understood.

"My Sharingan...it's gone," she murmured, a feeling of utter disbelief spreading through her system. "Gone..."

Before the void, before becoming trapped for Madara, before all of that, back when she was still having her _'normal_' life, this had never happened. **Ever.**  
As was the way of a permanent Sharingan.  
She had been born with it. It had never left, had never unactivated, nothing at all, until now.

Her eyes...her eyes were empty...  
At least, they felt that way.

Sheena nodded.  
"I noticed," she softly replied. There was something in her voice, something in her tone that calmed Shiko.

Sheena had known this would happen, she decided, and it was nothing to worry about. Was it?

"I'm sure that it will return in time. Your brain and your chakra...everything's a bit screwed up from...well...you know. I think you need some time to rest...and then it should come back. In the meantime, there's a lot of things we need to discuss. You've missed out on a lot of life, Shiko. Things have..happened. Our current situation might be a little displeasing. But that shouldn't be too much of a problem.."  
Sheena smiled softly, seeing her sister's reaction to her words.  
"And there's someone that's been dying to talk to you. He's actually been bugging me a bit about it. I think you'll be happy to see him," she finished, her eyes twinkling mischeviously.

Shiko raised an eyebrow. Ah well, she would find out who it was in time. She didn't bother asking now.

Why spoil the surprise?  
And surprise it would be.

For out of the many people she had known from her past life, as she referred to it, there was one out of all of them that she knew (or at least thought she knew) would be dead.  
Uchiha Madara.  
Whether by age or actions (the latter was more likely, as he tended to piss off a lot of powerful people, despite being one of or the most powerful ninja of the era) there was no way he would still be alive today.

A surprise indeed.  
**Indeed.**

**End of Chapter 4**

(A/N: I'm alive! And, I think...this might be the soonest update's I've ever done! For this story, at least...Ok. I have some explaining to do...  
Shiko's permanent sharingan will be explained in the next couple of chapters, as will the Senju demon. Please bear with me on that :)

Also...I realized...

I've forgotten about the other two stories in this trilogy!  
I haven't really gotten a draft for either...

But, I think...  
I will start working on A World of Shattered Memories- Yuri soon. It's just that, with two stories on my mind, I've become a bit distracted.  
I'm also thinking of re-writing A Tale of Love, Magic, and Mystery because frankly...I wrote it like two or three years ago and compared to my current writing level...it's pretty shitty .

ANYWAYS,  
Thank you to all that review! I love you all to death! Honestly! :D You people are amazing.

There is one reviewer in particular that I feel deserves the 'Reviewer recognition' award. This goes to Dina Sana- for she (at least, I think you're a she, correct me if i'm wrong please) has reviewed every chapter, and has been a reader of mine since The Other Mask! And when I updated last, she reviewed it in less than 15 minutes after it was posted. Seriously amazing. Love you!

xD

Well, I think that's all for now. I hope to have another chapter of this published within a week...we'll see how that goes :P

Oh, and please keep your eyes peeled for the other stories in this trilogy! I plan to publish them both within a month...again, we'll see how that goes :P)


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